Hybrid ElectriC smAll commuteR aiRcraft conceptUal deSign

Project Information

HECARRUS

Grant agreement ID: 865089

DOI

10.3030/865089

Project closed

EC signature date 25 June 2019

Start date 1 July 2019

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 750 000,00

EU contribution

€ 750 000,00

Coordinated by

ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - HECARRUS (Hybrid ElectriC smAll commuteR aiRcraft conceptUal deSign)

Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The aviation industry has taken major leaps to increase the aircraft efficiency. However, there is still room for improvement to meet the specific environmental goals [ACARE Flightpath 2050] of global gaseous (CO2, NOx) and noise emissions. This condition has initiated various approaches driven by the electrification of primary power, thus resulting in novel designs of hybrid- or fully-electric aircraft configurations. Such integrated aircraft-propulsion designs aim at electrifying either the existing ‘State-of-the-Art’ (SoA) configurations or other more sophisticated arrangements, to pave the way for a highly sustainable and greener future.
HECARRUS develops and integrates the conceptual design of a 19-passenger commuter aircraft, based on hybrid-electric propulsion configurations. The small aircraft solution will offer an environmental and community (noise) friendly means of transportation that will support carbon-neutral growth and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

To achieve its goals and proceed to the next steps of detailed component design and experimental demonstrations, the project has set five main objectives:
1] Technology analysis at component level: Propulsive component performance and sizing based on state-of-the-art (SoA) technologies and novel configurations targeting overall system efficiency increase.
2] Effective integration of components at the systems' level: Identification of promising hybrid-electric architectures for the small aircraft of the future.
3] Conceptual design of the aircraft: Aircraft sizing and higher fidelity numerical modeling using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Methods (FEM).
4] Demonstration of environmental and economic sustainability: Quantification of the overall environmental benefits that the proposed configuration can offer. A techno-economic analysis detailing the critical points of the novel configuration and aiming to provide an economically feasible solution, with regard to its Entry-Into-Service and technology selection.
5] Dissemination and communication of the new, hybrid-electric aircraft concept: Paving the ground for future exploitation of the results within this project. This objective also aims to inform society about the inherent potential of novel propulsive configurations towards the overall re-thinking of flight and transportation technologies.

The results have shown that this aircraft:
- Has significant improvement potential of the overall environmental impact (up to 34.3% of CO2, up to 30.5% of NOx, up to 20.0% of noise) as compared to a 2014 commuter aircraft. Battery improvements up to 2035 are required to make out the most of the available environmental improvement potential. From a life cycle perspective, the environmental improvement is also positive.
- Is a viable technology for a novel, multimodal ecosystem where multiple transportation modes will be used to provide a global system efficiency optimization.
- Can serve as the test bench to scale up novel technologies and system design for larger aircraft as the regional, short-to-medium and long-haul range.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work performed and main results:
1] Literature review and analysis of 'State-of-the-Art’ (SoA) technologies. The respective TRLs (Technology Readiness Level), the challenges and opportunities for each part of the powertrain have been identified.

2] Identification of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for each component of the propulsion system (gas turbine - GT, electrical power system - EPS, thermal management system - TMS).

3] Standalone tests at component and sub-component level have been completed. Therefore, performance and sizing modules are available to determine the characteristics of the following: GT, EPS, TMS, aircraft, mission and power management strategy.

4] HECARRUS framework development for the full-loop integrated design has been prepared and design space exploration has been performed, for each component. Results include criticalities for all components such as GT operability, EPS voltage variations and trade-offs, TMS cooling architectures and redundancy considerations for safety.

5] Development of the hybrid-electric aircraft sizing and a methodology that accounts for the components' positioning, within the airframe. The sizing of the first concept is linked with a down-selection assessment, the purpose of which has been to evaluate a family of hybrid-electric architectures and allow for the qualification of the most promising concepts. The aircraft static stability and trim analysis are also calculated.

6] Higher-fidelity simulations (CFD, FEM) at specific parts of the aircraft: Evaluation of wing's structural aspects and aft-fan engine's aerodynamic characteristics.

7] Life Cycle Analysis and direct operating costs: A methodology has been developed, focusing on the operation phase of the inventory analysis of the aircraft.
The final assessment provides the overall environmental impact of the aircraft, on a holistic level.

8] Dissemination & Communication of results:
- Participation in conferences and other events, including the dedicated planning of a hybrid-electric panel session, with the sister projects of HECARRUS.
- Article publications.
- Project e-newsletters.
- Educational sessions and lectures provided by the academic institutions.
- Further communication of results to exploit the knowledge developed during the project's life cycle.
- Preparation of the project's e-Book as an overview of the results and activities performed.

9] Exploitation of results and Key Exploitable Results:
- Main HECARRUS configuration(s) / layout of integrated propulsion system and airframe.
- HECARRUS component/sub-component development.
- HECARRUS models and tools including results and databases.
- HECARRUS expert personnel.
- Open-access publications in international peer-reviewed journals/conferences.
- HECARRUS business models.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

HECARRUS advances current state-of-the-art knowledge by developing a full design loop framework, which couples and optimizes the most efficient technologies in a hybrid-electric powertrain, to produce novel configurations for the commuter aircraft segment, with up to 19 passengers. Several hybrid-electric architectures (airframe-engine architectures) are evaluated, aiming to provide radical improvements in gaseous (CO2, NOx) as well as noise emissions.
The benefits of the hybrid propulsion technologies studied under HECARRUS, will be seen in the long-term across the whole commercial fleet and will be complementary to engine core technologies currently under investigation in other EU projects. In other words, the potential fuel efficiency benefits from HECARRUS can be stacked-up to efficiency benefits of other projects, as all technologies gradually mature for an entry into service by 2030 and beyond.
Regarding the project's socio-economic impact, it contributes to the European transport policy which is in line with the Euro 2020 initiative in working towards “resource-efficient Europe”. This is achieved by facilitating economic progress, enhancing competitiveness and offering high-quality mobility while using resources more efficiently. Additionally, the project contributes to ensuring the competitiveness of European industry and will enable the creation of new jobs in Europe, as the investigated technologies must be taken up for further development in R&I projects.

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